I had a lot of ideas for this year's costume. If I wanted to stay low-key and wearable all day, I could try for something like Carole King. I've been told on multiple occasions that I look quite like her, and so all it would take is a bit of 70's fashion to complete the look. If I wanted to go bigger, there were plenty of pieces of media that I enjoyed this year, and might want to pay tribute to. I could play to the classic fantasy and be an elf or fairy. I could be Cecil from Welcome to Night Vale. I could even dip my toe into some of the anime series I've enjoyed lately, like My Hero Academia, or Mob Psycho 100. There are so many options!
...and then I learned that the creators of The Adventure Zone would be going on tour in my area in the fall. They'd be doing a show near me mere weeks from Halloween. Of course I had to get a ticket. I've never been to one of their live shows before, but the recordings make them sound like great fun! And the recordings also reveal that many of the fans come in costume.
Ah. Well. Decision made, then. I'm not going to go in a year-old costume when I could make a new one of a different character. The only question was: who?
There are many excellent choices of character for cosplay in TAZ, especially now as they're wrapping up their second season. I did Aubrey Little of their second season last year, so this time I felt like it would be fun to get back to season one with some classic Balance characters. I conferred with other friends who were planning to go to the event in costume and settled on Taako for my cosplay/Halloween costume.
Taako Tacco. The elven wizard member of Tres Horny Boys. This is going to be fun.
I love Taako. He's such a ridiculous character in many ways, and yet he has a lot of depth to him that comes to the surface in tense moments. Between that and the off-the-walls outfits he's sometimes described as wearing, I know this will be a fun ride!
Okay, back to business: what do we need for the costume? True to TAZ tradition, not much information is given about the characters' physical appearances. Taako is an elf, so we can assume he has pointed ears. We also know he has a wizard hat and the umbrastaff (an umbrella that doubles as a concealed wand). That's about it. In one arc he wears a skirt, and in another, we know he wears a robe and jacket combo, but other than that there's not much to go on. Therefore, we have pretty much absolute freedom on how to design this costume! I took a dive into the ample fan art for inspiration and set to work sketching out my concept.
And there he is! I could've gone more flamboyant, but I wanted something that could reasonably be thought of as practical adventurer's gear. Taako, Magnus, and Merle get into a lot of hairy situations, after all!
Now for a summary of all the items needed:
- Black boots with salmon laces
- Blue jeans/pants
- Light blue button-down shirt
- Blue capelet with red lining
- Bureau of Balance arm bracer
- Red umbrella (umbrastaff)
- Salmon corset-belt with embroidered details
- Black wizard hat with embellishments
- Long blonde wig
- Prosthetic elf ears
Whew, that's a long list! Fortunately, not everything has to be made by hand. I already have black boots and blue jeans, and I can acquire a red umbrella and a button-down shirt fairly easily (though I might try to make the latter just for fun). The wig will also have to be purchased.
That leaves the capelet, hat, bracer, belt, and ears to make. All I can say to that is I'd better get started!
P.S. Sorry for putting this post out later than usual. My parents just got two puppies (miniature poodles), and I've been helping to take care of them. They're a lot of work! But they're absolutely adorable as well, so you can't really stay mad at them.
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